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The Midterm Elections Won't Keep Trump From College Football on Saturday. A Hurricane Might

WASHINGTON (AP) — The midterm elections are looming and the first hurricane of the Atlantic Season is menacing the Gulf Coast. But President Donald Trump is really, really hoping the weather doesn’t stop him from going to another big college football game — this one in Alabama on Saturday night.

Oct 8 • 12:08 AM EDT • Politics • usnews.com

What's The Oldest Samsung Phone That Still Gets Software Support?

Buying a new phone is an investment, so you'll want one that lasts a while, but does your old Samsung still have some life or is it out of support?

Oct 7 • 11:17 PM EDT • Technology • bgr.com

Is Pessimism Surrounding Wizards Head Coach Brian Keefe Deserved?

After amassing just 34 wins over the last two seasons, does Washington Wizards head coach Brian Keefe have something to prove in 2026-27?

Oct 7 • 10:45 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Who Won August and September: Original Films or Franchises?

(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) I just heard someone say that if you’re reading a pundit or data analyst, and they don’t tell you that they got anything wrong, they’re not a pundit but an “influencer”. I agree with that. You have to tell your audience when you get things wrong, or they won’t (or shouldn’t) trust you as much. Today, we’ve got another edition of “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong”. In general, I’m patting myself on the back (and patting very hard) about a few things like IP at the box office, LIV golf, horror films, crowdfunding movies, superheroes, and old people going to the theaters. That said, I also made a couple of data mistakes on the streaming bubble popping and HBO’s datecdotes, so I’m not perfect. But first, I need your feedback... Subscribe Follow-Ups: What Should We Call Mid-Budget Movies Which Aren’t Cinematic Enough for Theaters But Are Too Expensive to Make Money on Streaming? After I asked for feedback on what we should call straight-to-streaming films that are too big to pencil out on streaming but not really big enough to resonate in theaters, I got some great suggestions from you all, including... “Moldilocks” from John Aboud “Little Big Indie” from Travis Frick1 “Midflicks” from Jonathan Funke. “Extra-Medium” from Jona Nwuke. (Read the explanation in the footnote.) Between these and Brandon Katz—who suggested “Bermuda Budget Triangle”, “The Platform Gap” and “The Distribution Deadzone”—we’ve got some excellent suggestions. And they’re better than my suggestion, the “Streaming Budget Dead Zone”, so let’s take a poll! The winning entry becomes the new term. Loading... RIGHT: LIV Golf is Fully Bankrupt…Is Anyone Else Next? A few years ago, I was always a bit perplexed at all the articles I’d read praising LIV Golf and their strategy to disrupt the PGA. LIV Golf, a brand new professional golf league, offered PGA stars ten times what they made on the PGA Tour to join their new league. And folks praised this strategy for its initial “success” in that a lot of big names did indeed leave the PGA. Yeah, of course the players came over. LIV Golf paid them so, so, so much more! But LIV Golf hadn’t discovered a way to increase potential revenue. So think about this in basic business terms… They paid much more in costs… …but had no real way to increase revenue. That’s not a strategy! That’s deficit financing. It won’t work unless you bankrupt the competition (and then turn around and pay those same golfers much, much less). It’s not a sustainable strategy and only lasts as long as the company/person/nation backing it decides they’re cool with losing money. For LIV Golf, that meant Middle East oil wealth, in particular Saudi Arabian money. Clearly, the current Iran War has hurt Middle East finances, so they need to trim their more exorbitant spending. And LIV Golf was part of that trimming. This should be a major warning for others. TGL’s parent company, TMRW Sports, just got a $1 billion valuation, despite TGL’s (the indoor golf league) horrible TV viewership of less than half a million viewers per match. Unrivaled, the women’s basketball league, just secured a $650 valuation, despite its horrible TV viewership and a new rival (Project B) entering the scene next year. To relate this to streaming, Hollywood should ask which streamers may have wealthy patrons funding their losses. (Let’s be clear: Google, Amazon and Apple.) Could those patrons lose their appetite? For Amazon, probably not. But Apple has a new boss, so maybe! WRONG: My Analysis of the Streaming Bubble Was Missing a Week I’m going to be congratulating myself a lot today, but I make mistakes too, like this data goof. When I last compiled the data on the decline in TV shows, I was missing one week at the end of June. If you look at the first image, you can see that one week was mislabelled as “July”. Mainly, this image got updated to show a 27% decline, not 29%: This change doesn’t really impact the overall analysis, but it is two percent better. By the way, through the third quarter, the decline increased and it’s now a 30% decrease since 2022. (I’ll write/visualize this in an upcoming article.) But I want you to trust me and my data. Especially these days, when many people are using LLMs that I know are inserting faulty data into their charts, I want to keep earning my audience’s faith. So that’s the accurate data. RIGHT: IP Remains Very, Very Popular In July, I wrote a giant (and I mean giant) article on Backrooms, Obsession, and the box office, going over what we know, what we don’t know about what works in theaters, looking at YouTubers, IP, the horror genre, comic book movies, and a whole lot more. The month of August really tested a lot of my theses and, being honest, mostly supported my arguments. Let’s start with IP. Looking at 8-Aug (the weekend after Spider-Man: Brand New Day came out) to 18-Sep (the weekend that Resident Evil came out, which I think provides a nice bookend to this time period), there were seven films based on pre-existing IP: Resident Evil (2026) ($126 million) Practical Magic 2 ($65 million) _Insidious: Out of the Furthe_r ($65 million) Coyote Vs. Acme ($59 million) Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie ($53 million) Tony ($15 million) Super Troopers 3 ($7 million) Compare those to the notable original films from the past month—I actually could have included more movies, but here are just thirteen, bringing us to an even twenty films—including.... The End of Oak Street ($54 million) Buddy ($26 million) Mutiny ($15 million) By Any Means ($15 million) The Dog Stars ($14 million) Runner ($14 million) One Night Only ($11 million) Hope ($8 million) Spa Weekend ($7 million) The Uprising ($6 million) Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma ($6 million) Onslaught ($3 million) Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man ($2.8 million) Here’s that in chart form: Five of the top six films in this time period were all based on IP. I made a big chart of films that grossed over $200 million at the box office before Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey hit theaters. Let’s update that chart! By the way, if you want to see how I categorized each film—so another bar chart—here it is: I know that many of my fellow critics/pundits/analysts dislike films based on IP and how Hollywood is making so many of them. And I’m sympathetic to this point of view. As I’ve written many, many times before, you need a balance between existing franchises, new IP, and original films. And Hollywood clearly needs to make more films like Resident Evil (a well-made film from a visionary director) and fewer Practical Magic 2’s (which didn’t get critical or customer buzz). But at some point, critics and pundits need to contend with what audiences are telling them: Movie-goers aren’t showing up to original films. Audiences are speaking with their dollars, telling you they want more IP and franchises. You can try to convince studio heads to make fewer IP-based films and franchises, but the data and numbers aren’t there. Instead, critics need to work harder to convince audiences to show up for original films. Aim your ire/concern at the average person, not studio heads.2 Because they’re just making the films that audiences are telling them to make. WRONG: Original Horror Films Didn’t Break Out I’ll be honest, even though I wrote an article casting some skepticism on the horror genre in July, if you asked me to make a prediction, I would have predicted that, in August, a new, original horror film would have blown up. No, seriously, I just assumed that Obsession and Backrooms presaged a change in audience behavior. But none of the buzzy new original horror films from August—Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Onslaught (not an action film in spite of the ads), The End of Oak Street, Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man, or _Buddy—_broke out. To be clear, exactly one of those films (Buddy) had good “ROI”, but again—I try to be specific in my language—none were “popular” in any broad sense of the word. None of them will be “saving” movies theaters like Backrooms or _Obsession_helped save the summer. The new Insidious film and Resident Evil, both based on IP, were far and away the biggest horror films since July. (We’ll see if this changes in October/Halloween season.) RIGHT: Stay Skeptical about Crowdfunding... I’ve long been skeptical about crowd-investing platforms as one of Hollywood’s saviors, mainly because there’s so much hype/buzz. People need to stay more skeptical about more things, explaining both the potential upside but also the downsides. In particular, the media often hypes crowdfunding at the start and never checks in on the actual results after they’ve come in later. And August gave us our first update! _Ice Cream Man—_directed by Eli Roth—grossed $6 million off of a $5.5 million budget. This is a production of The Horror Section, which was one of the first “crowd investing” studios with 2,400 investors, which means that 2,400 investors probably lost money. They certainly aren’t getting as great of returns as if they had just invested their dollars in the stock market. Hopefully Stiletto (Tagline: “Someone’s Going to Make it Rain Blood!”) does better next month. WRONG: Another Data Goof Here’s another data error. When the first episode of House of the Dragon came out, HBO put out that it had 21.5 million viewers in the first three days, and I read that to mean in the US…but no, it was global. So my US-only datecdotes charts shouldn’t have included it. We never got US-only numbers for the first episode, but for the final episode, HBO put out that it had 11 million US viewers. (And that global dropped to 21 million viewers.) Here’s the updated chart (which I’ve since used in the Streaming Ratings Report): Still, this show is absolutely huge. RIGHT: Superhero Films Remain Very, Very Popular After Supergirl flopped, I read a few takes that “comic book movies are going the way of the Western”. Post-Spider-Man: Brand New Day, that take didn’t age well. To be fair, I have a very nuanced take on the superhero genre right now; it’s down right now, for a lot of reasons. But it’s not “dead”. Maybe _Spider-_Man is just a really popular character? I saw that take, and it’s a fair counter-argument. (But pundits arguing that superhero movies were dead should have mentioned this $1.5 billion counter-argument…) But is it just Spider-Man? The next Avengers film already has $50 million in pre-sales (and I was skeptical that that film would do well) and the Avengers: End Game re-release topped the box office two weekends ago (over three original films). And I wouldn’t bet against Batman or Superman. So maybe it’s just Spider-Man, Batman, Superman and the Avengers. Oh, and Deadpool, of course. And Black Panther. And Wolverine. And probably the X-Men. Plus a well-made Wonder Woman or the Hulk film could break out. But that’s it! It’s just those ten characters/teams. Oh, what’s that? Lanterns is also doing well on HBO? (See previous section…) To be fair, I’m actually pretty sympathetic to the argument that more popular characters—like Spider-Man and Batman—anchor more popular films. In fact, I made that exact argument three years ago when I first wrote about the “Marvel-cession”. In many ways, you can blame The Guardians of the Galaxy for fooling Marvel Studios (and the rest of us) into believing that any character could pop. It turns out, the list of iconic characters is probably smaller than most people think. But it’s probably too early to say that superhero films and comic book movies are dead unless “death” means a slight decline over a longtime. RIGHT: Who Killed Theaters? Old People I get frustrated whenever I see headlines or analysis about how young people are “returning” to theaters. As I’ve detailed(for years), young people have always powered the US box office, despite narratives about “kids these days” and their “phones”. Really, what’s changed post-2020/pandemic is that old people aren’t going to the movies nearly as much. This summer, I saw a movie (from an older director) in a theater near a retirement community, and multiple older people at the theater were talking about how this was their first time seeing a movie in years. I dislike personal anecdotes, so YouGov can fill in the data, best summarized by this headline: “Who killed movie theaters? Not the youths”. According to them, 64% of people aged 18-29 have seen a movie in the last year, but only 30% of 65-and-older. 20% of 18-29 have seen a movie in theaters in the last week and 42% in the last month. Here’s the polling data: Most concerning? Many Americans (17%) think theaters are a worse or much worse experience than watching films at home. Slight WRONG: Hadestown Opens Big A live theater capture of the Broadway musical, Hadestown, made $20 million at the US box office, which begs the question: was I wrong to be skeptical about musicals a few years ago? Yes and no. On the one hand, $20 million is a far cry from being “popular”, so yeah, the genre isn’t that popular overall and Hadestown is one of the more popular musicals from recent years (i.e. the “Taylor Swift Data Fallacy” in action). On the other, I doubt filming this cost all that much, and I don’t think that they spent much on marketing, so this is a good source of ancillary revenue. Smaller Updates WRONG: As I mentioned in a Streaming Ratings Report, I underestimated the budget for Enola Holmes 3. It probably cost more like $50 million, if not more. But... I’m not sure that it really matters? At sub-10 million hours, prices have to come down to make this work. WRONG: Netflix is giving Ink a 27-day in theaters! To quote the kids/YouTubers these days, let’s go! Now I might actually have a chance to see Danny Boyle’s latest in theaters. I’d complained about this in a “Coming Soon” section, but I was heartened to read that Netflix is giving multiple films longer theatrical windows this year. RIGHT: Netflix is sending 4-5 films per year to theaters. Netflix is slowly but surely sending more and more films to theaters, as I cautiously predicted earlier this year. For now, it’s just three big films and a number of awards contenders, but still, this is great news. And they’ll be releasing box office grosses! Just this week, Ted Sarandos confirmed that KPop Demon Hunters 2 will come to theaters (and my guess is it performs in the box office top ten at a minimum). WRONG: Angel has 3 million subscribers! How do I know this? Well, they told Deadline, who reported it. I marked this as “wrong”, since they’ve doubled their subscribers in one year but, you know, they don’t really have a hit film to speak of and they’re still losing money. WRONG: Furious was only renewed for one more season. I accidentally wrote “two more seasons” in my latest “Renewals, Cancellations, Un-Orders and Removals Update”. RIGHT: House of David is ending with its third season. In July, Prime Video renewed House of David for a third season, as I just wrote in my latest “Renewals and Cancellations” report. Well, now it’s ending after that third season. Why? As I’ve been writing, its viewership wasn’t great. I got feedback that this show didn’t cost very much, but it cost enough that its limited viewership didn’t save it. WRONG: Adults was a Hulu original! So I missed Adults when it first came out last year; I saw that it aired on FX and just assumed that it was a linear-first program. Turns out, it aired three episodes on FX, but binge-released the rest of its episodes the next day on Hulu. Huh. So I should have covered it last year! But I just wrote about it. 1 “When I was a kid in the 90s, if you wore a t-shirt to school that wasn’t too big and also wasn’t too small, but somehow didn’t quite fit, we’d say you were wearing an “extra-medium” shirt.” 2 As always, a huge exception is Disney, which barely makes anything original anymore.

Oct 7 • 6:41 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com

Seminoles Should Focus on Aerial Assault vs. Louisville

Florida State has been on a roll the last two weeks. After getting its first ACC win of the season in a 38-7 beat down of Virginia, the Seminoles are looking for their third straight win against a Louisville squad that does not defend very well against the pass.

Oct 7 • 6:07 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Ahead of Trump's Visit, Ken Paxton Has a New Problem: Snitches

Based on a series of audio leaks, the Republican candidate for Senate does not seem to be having a good time.

Oct 7 • 6:02 PM EDT • Politics • texasmonthly.com

Rockstar, Does GTA 6's Jason Show Full Hog Or Not?

I know I’ll see him naked, but just how naked?

Oct 7 • 5:10 PM EDT • Technology • kotaku.com

D'Andre Swift does not practice Wednesday

Bears RB D'Andre Swift sits out Wednesday because of multiple injuries

Oct 7 • 4:35 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Caleb Williams does not practice Wednesday

Bears QB Caleb Williams sits out first practice of week

Oct 7 • 4:14 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Grade the trade: What does dealing center Cam Jurgens to Ravens mean for Eagles' Jalen Hurts in short and long run?

Oct 7 • 3:31 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Glen Powell Says He Doesn't Talk Politics: 'My Calling Is Elsewhere'

The actor told Esquire that engaging in political conversations was "not presently possible" and that Paramount "let go of an entire marketing department a month before ['The Running Man'] came out in the middle of a merger."

Oct 7 • 2:58 PM EDT • Politics • hollywoodreporter.com

Anthony Rizzo Crosses Chicago Rivalry Line With White Sox Message

Anthony Rizzo will forever be connected to the Chicago Cubs, but that apparently doesn’t mean he has to root against everything happening on the South Side. The longtime Cubs star and one of the central figures from Chicago’s 2016 World Series championship team said Wednesday that he plans to attend Game 3 of the American…

Oct 7 • 2:46 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Glen Powell Doesn’t Want to Talk About Politics as a Movie Star: ‘My Calling Is Elsewhere’

Glen Powell told Esquire in a new profile that he has no intention of stepping into the ring of political discourse.

Oct 7 • 1:31 PM EDT • Politics • yahoo.com

Glen Powell On Why He Doesn't Talk Politics & Why 'Running Man' Flopped

Glen Powell is opening up about why he shies away from talking about politics publicly, even though his mother worked in the Reagan administration at the U.S. Treasury Department.

Oct 7 • 12:55 PM EDT • Politics • deadline.com

Joel Klatt Says Michigan’s Scheme Doesn’t Fit Its Players

Joel Klatt called Michigan's loss at Minnesota and walked away blaming something bigger than the players. #GoBlue

Oct 7 • 12:45 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Steelers Still Waiting on Key Starter in Secondary to Return

PITTSBURGH — DeShon Elliott is close, but it doesn’t sound like the Pittsburgh Steelers’ starting safety will be back in […]

Oct 7 • 12:33 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

How can 'Ted Lasso' fix itself?

After an uneven Season 4, where does "Ted Lasso" go from here?

Oct 7 • 12:25 PM EDT • Entertainment • mashable.com

Glen Powell Believes Politics "Divide People," Engaging Is "Not Presently Possible"

Glen Powell explained why he avoids talking about politics, saying he doesn't want to divide people and that he genuinely doesn't like the discourse.

Oct 7 • 12:07 PM EDT • Politics • consequence.net

DOE Science Committee Draws Concerns Over Limited Expertise

DOE’s smaller scientific advisory committee may not be equipped to plan the future of the physical sciences, scientists say.

Oct 7 • 11:28 AM EDT • Science • aip.org

All hail the Kult of Kemi – captain, coach and owner of the Conservatives

The Tory leader is now too big for the party to allow her to fail, so everything she does is acclaimed a work of genius

Oct 7 • 11:17 AM EDT • Politics • theguardian.com

Can a robot become a real companion? Science is testing the limits

A robot does not need to feel emotions for a person to become emotionally attached to it. That is one of the clearest lessons emerging from research on social robots. People can name them, talk to the...

Oct 7 • 8:36 AM EDT • Science • yahoo.com

Journalism is serious business. That doesn’t mean it can’t be funny.

5 reasons humor (and memes) can help journalists inform audiences, build community and cut through the noise

Oct 7 • 7:00 AM EDT • Business • poynter.org

Lamar Jackson Injury Update: Ravens QB’s Week 5 Status Revealed

Lamar Jackson suffered an ankle injury in Week 4, and the two-time NFL MVP left the game in a walking boot. This is obviously worrisome news for Ravens fans across the globe, but it does not appear to be a serious issue. Originally entering the league as a first-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, …

Oct 7 • 6:28 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Today on Pinstripe Alley

Does the Yankees’ season end tonight, or will they live to fight another day in the Bronx?

Oct 7 • 6:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Half a billion dollars in GOP spending does little to move polls

Republicans’ massive money advantage has yet to reshape the midterm map, as Democrats keep expanding their ambitions.

Oct 7 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com

Assuming that trade doesn't happen, you have to go …

Assuming that trade doesn't happen, you have to go …

Oct 7 • 4:35 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Does 'Carrie' contain a dig at Elon Musk?

"Leave it alone, I say."

Oct 7 • 3:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • mashable.com

Matthew Lillard says Hollywood doesn’t ‘understand’ him: ‘I still fight for jobs now.’

The “Scream” star talks about living with Paul Rudd early in his career.

Oct 7 • 12:59 AM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

Matthew Lillard says Hollywood doesn’t ‘understand’ him: ‘I still fight for jobs now.’

At 56, Matthew Lillard says he’s no longer as competitive as he once was about jobs, but he laments, “Nobody ever equates me with greatness.”

Oct 7 • 12:59 AM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com

Jim Phillips: ACC does not have ‘unanimity’ on Protect College Sports Act

With the Protect College Sports Act heading to the House of Representatives, the ACC has become a key part of the conversation. Four school presidents from the conference penned a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) requesting changes to the conference realignment provision last week. Speaking at ACC Tipoff on Tuesday, commissioner Jim Phillips […]

Oct 6 • 9:40 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Gillian Anderson 'can't wait' to see what Ryan Coogler does with 'The X-Files'

Gillian Anderson talks Netflix's "Animals" and Ryan Coogler's "X-Files" reboot. Will she and David Duchovny return? Here's what they have said about it.

Oct 6 • 6:38 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

I’m Convinced That Pete Hegseth Doesn’t Actually Care About Our Armed Service Members

If the Secretary of Talking About War would take a few hours off from preparing Instagram videos, he’d notice that the military medical system is failing his troops in the Middle East.

Oct 6 • 4:57 PM EDT • Politics • esquire.com

Trump doesn't commit to repaying federal funds already spent on ads

Nearly $12 million worth of ads have already aired, according to AdImpact

Oct 6 • 4:52 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com

Business - How much does France spend on education?

Oct 6 • 4:29 PM EDT • Business • france24.com

Trump Does Not Plan to Reimburse Taxpayers for Promotional Ads

A day after the president said his super PAC would pay for the ads, which had drawn bipartisan backlash, officials said that he meant moving forward. A new taxpayer-funded ad aired Tuesday.

Oct 6 • 3:36 PM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com

People Are Spending Thousands to ‘Reset’ Their Gut in a Week. Does It Actually Work?

Gut-health retreats promise a quick “reset,” but the science is more complicated.

Oct 6 • 3:27 PM EDT • Science • sacbee.com

Health Alert – U.S. Embassy Moscow, Russia (October 6, 2026)

Health Alert – U.S. Embassy Moscow, Russia (October 5, 2026) Location: Irkutsk, Russia Event: The U.S. Embassy is aware of press reports from the Irkutsk region of suspected pneumonic plague resulting in the death of an individual and of associated quarantine measures in, and closures of, hospitals in Irkutsk. We continue to track the situation closely. The U.S. government has limited ability to help U.S. citizens in Russia, especially outside of Moscow. U.S. government personnel may face additional restrictions for personal and official travel to specific regions due to health and security concerns. The State Department’s Level 4 Travel Advisory (Do Not Travel) for Russia remains in place and states U.S. citizens currently in Russia should depart immediately. U.S. citizens planning travel to Russia are again strongly advised not to travel to Russia due to risk of wrongful detention and security concerns. Actions to Take: S. citizens in the area should follow the guidance of local health authorities, avoid affected facilities, and seek medical care promptly if they develop fever or respiratory symptoms. Visit the CDC Page on Plague for additional information about the disease. Visit the CDC Travelers’ Health Page for Russia for country-specific health updates. Monitor your health for 14 days following travel if you traveled to an area experiencing the outbreak. Review the S. Embassy country page for general health information. Refer to the Embassy’s list of medical providers. Check with your travel insurance provider about medical evacuation options should you fall ill while overseas. Have a plan to depart in an emergency that does not depend on U.S. government help. Monitor local media for updates. Be prepared to adjust your plans. Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program(STEP) to receive health and security updates. Assistance: U.S. Embassy Moscow, Russia +7 495 728-5577 MoscowACS@state.gov U.S. Embassy Moscow web page State Department – Consular Affairs (+001) 888-407-4747 or (+001) 202-501-4444 Russia Country Information Follow us on Facebook and Twitter State Department – Consular Affairs 1-888-407-4747 or 1-202-501-4444

Oct 6 • 1:48 PM EDT • Health • ru.usembassy.gov

‘The Science Doesn’t Back It Up’ — Controversy Erupts As Chris Nowinski’s Guardian Cap Critique Divides Fans

Chris Nowinski is not sold on the Guardian Cap. On Pablo Torre Finds Out, Pablo Torre’s podcast, posted Tuesday, the co-founder of Boston University’s CTE Center told Torre the story behind the padded helmet cover looks like something of a scam.

Oct 6 • 1:08 PM EDT • Science • sports.yahoo.com

EB Games announces first ever Nintendo store-within-a-store in North America

Today, EB Games announced the first-ever Nintendo store-within-a-store experience in North America. The space will be located in the heart of Toronto. EB Games will open the Nintendo space at its flagship location at 267 Yonge Street. This is a permanent, 1,500-square-foot space that “will bring Nintendo games, characters and worlds together in a dedicated retail environment.” The new Nintendo...

Oct 6 • 12:42 PM EDT • Technology • nintendoeverything.com

Week 5 fantasy wide receiver rankings: Top WR streamers, starts

After missing two games with a strained hamsting, Houston's Nico Collins returned with a bang (and two TDs). Where does he rank among WRs this week?

Oct 6 • 12:05 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Colorado’s best future does not include gerrymandering and political cheating (Editorial)

Shame on Texas Republicans who engaged in one of the dirtiest political tricks America has ever seen — redistricting before the decennial census with the goal of giving Republicans a better chance of winning in five congressional…

Oct 6 • 11:25 AM EDT • Politics • denverpost.com

Alito says Supreme Court can’t stem rise of emergency appeals, 'not pleased' with Trump's rhetoric

The justice told The Associated Press in a rare interview that the rhetoric about the court from Trump and his administration doesn't sit well with him.

Oct 6 • 10:25 AM EDT • Politics • pbs.org

Week 5 fantasy quarterback rankings: Top QB streamers, starts

San Francisco's Brock Purdy is having an outstanding fantasy season, leading the NFL in TD passes. Where does he rank this week at Seattle?

Oct 6 • 10:13 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Brazil: Lessons from a Disaster

By Antonio Martins (Outras Palavras) Defeats become deeper and more prolonged when we misunderstand what caused them, avoid correcting course, and embrace “solutions” that only compound our mistakes. Lula’s government and the Brazilian left suffered a disaster in Sunday’s election. Contrary to every poll, the president finished the first round 2.2 million votes behind Flávio Bolsonaro—and, more significantly, 3.4 million votes below his total four years ago, when the machinery of the state was working against him and in favor of his opponent. His vote share declined in 98 percent of Brazil’s municipalities. The PL, the main party of the far right, elected 121 deputies and 28 senators, becoming the largest caucus in both houses of Congress. The parties aligned with the Centrão—Brazil’s bloc of transactional center-right parties—were somewhat diminished, but will still hold roughly 250 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 35 in the Senate. That will make it easier to assemble the majorities needed to amend the Constitution or impeach Supreme Federal Court justices. If elected, Flávio Bolsonaro could appoint four members of the Court, substantially altering its internal balance of power. What produced these results? How can the far right be prevented from consolidating them into a prolonged political hegemony? And what is the essential change of direction the left now needs? Explaining the Disaster Across the commercial media and the exuberant chaos of digital platforms, interpretations are multiplying. Some focus on specific episodes: Lula’s absence from the Globo debate, his very close relationship with Alexandre de Moraes, or his emphasis on issues supposedly remote from most people’s everyday concerns, such as rare earth minerals. Among the more systemic interpretations, three seem especially questionable. One argues that the principal defeat was not the left’s, since its congressional representation declined only slightly. The decisive movement captured at the ballot box, according to this view, was a shift within the right itself—from the more moderate and transactional forces of the Centrão toward the more ideological and radicalized forces of the PL and Novo. A second interpretation holds that the nature of electoral and political processes has changed. The material interests and aspirations of society, it argues, no longer play the central role they once did; they have given way to forms of subjective self-identification that the left has yet to understand. And a third concludes that, because of these two developments, we should expect a political winter: a prolonged period in which the far right and the broader right dominate Brazilian political life. There are important elements in all three interpretations. The problem lies in what they deny or leave out: Lula’s third government was a small-bore government. It offered the majorities that elected it neither a clearly better life nor reasons to believe again in politics and its power to transform society. These failures flowed from two fatal accommodations, which I will examine below. As a result, the government suffered a slow but steady erosion of support. And, as has happened in so many Western countries, it gave the far right the opportunity to present itself as anti-system and to benefit from popular frustration and distress. The interpretation that emphasizes the migration of votes from the center-right and traditional right toward the far right has been advanced, among others, by the courageous journalist Leonardo Sakamoto. In his UOL column on Monday, October 5, he highlights the miserable behavior of the traditional conservative parties. Over the past four years, they repeatedly joined forces with the “neo”-fascists, helping to “normalize” them—a criticism that could equally be directed at almost the entire corporate media. Believing they could use the far right as a stepping stone, they instead ended up partly devoured by it. This was especially true in the Senate, where the PL’s gain of 13 senators and Novo’s gain of two came at the expense of the PSD, which lost nine; the MDB, which lost two; the PSDB, which lost two; and the PP, which lost one. Sakamoto’s observation is accurate and necessary, but it leaves uncomfortable questions unanswered. Why did the erosion of the Centrão benefit the far right rather than, for example, producing growth for the left—as has happened so many times before, both in Brazil and elsewhere? The answer is not difficult. Throughout its four years in office, Lula’s third government was almost invariably associated with the Centrão. Here lies its first accommodation: accepting the limits imposed by conservative institutions; avoiding, as much as possible, any attempt to strain those limits through popular pressure; and believing only in the modest changes that could be squeezed through openings in Congress. The failure of the campaign to end the six-day workweek is emblematic. Lula could have electrified the presidential race by pairing it with a popular campaign for passage of the measure. Instead, he chose to place his hopes in the hands of Senate president Rodrigo Alcolumbre. He generated no mass mobilization, did not force his opponents onto an uncomfortable defensive, and won no victory. In September 2025, the government squandered the greatest of its many opportunities to shake up conservative power in Congress. Popular opposition to the so-called Shielding Amendment—which, if approved, would have restricted criminal proceedings against members of Congress—brought crowds into the streets, mobilized primarily by artists and social movements. This opened the possibility for a broader political education: a campaign that could begin exposing the limits and dysfunctions of Brazil’s political system while putting Bolsonaro’s movement on the defensive for its predictable support of political privilege. The amendment was defeated. But the executive branch then backed away from the fight. It remained associated with an institutional world widely seen as corrupt, elitist, and indifferent to ordinary people’s struggles. In doing so, it forfeited its credibility as a vehicle for the protest vote. On Sunday, it reaped the bitter fruits. Are We Doomed? Taking a different approach from Sakamoto, the philosopher Moysés Pinto Neto and other writers have drawn attention, in their first analyses of October 4, to the fragmentation of the public sphere produced by Big Tech platforms. Through their algorithms, these platforms present each person with a different view of social reality. As a consequence, it becomes much harder to identify common material problems and demands—for example, the fight for labor rights or for a properly funded public health system. Voters no longer embrace such demands, these authors argue, because they no longer see themselves as part of a collective. Instead, they tend to value the identities assigned to them by neoliberal subjectivity—the role of the entrepreneur, for example. On this interpretation, the left’s possible error lies in clinging to outdated illusions. Moysés’s warning is highly relevant and resonates with arguments such as Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor’s “Apocalyptic Fascism and the Billionaires’ Bet.” Unlike a century ago, the far right no longer promises a radiant future. It concentrates instead on resentment—especially that of young men. “They belong to a generation that fears it may never own a home, but compensates with the pleasure it gets from constantly provoking progressives online. Convinced their future has been stolen, they share memes romanticizing historical authoritarian regimes,” the authors write. But Moysés seems to confuse this danger with inevitability. He fails to see that the left’s answer cannot be adaptation. On the contrary, it must strengthen the possibility of politics as collective action. Nor does he recognize that precisely such a reversal is already becoming possible in some of the most promising mobilizations of the twenty-first century: the election, at the end of 2025, of the young Muslim Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York, on a platform centered on the intensely material fight for an affordable city; the Left Party’s victory in Berlin two weeks ago, built around the demand to expropriate private real-estate corporations; and the very recent wave of demonstrations in Spain—including an occupation of Madrid’s Puerta del Sol—in which tens of thousands of young people mobilized by the Tenants’ Union have demanded limits on rents. By putting itself in the straitjacket of the “fiscal framework” in the first months of 2022, Lula’s third government adopted the second fatal accommodation of its term. Faced with conservative institutions and a country devastated by four years of Bolsonaro, increased public investment was the government’s remaining weapon for offering a more dignified life to the majority and forging an anti-conservative pact with them. The same state that disburses 1 trillion reais a year to enrich a small class of rentiers could instead spend money to extend the Family Health Strategy to every Brazilian, at a cost of 30 billion reais; provide full-day public schooling and childcare to all adolescents and children—and, especially, relief to their mothers; achieve universal sanitation while cleaning up polluted urban rivers; multiply metro systems; begin transforming the urban peripheries; and undertake many other urgently needed projects. In April 2023, an article in Outras Palavras warned that the fiscal framework could “shrink the Lula government and preserve the forces that condemn the country to inequality and regression.” A year later, another article showed that restraints on public spending were strangling policies vital to ordinary people and undermining the president’s popularity. In November 2024 came a reality check, in the form of the government’s humiliating defeat in the municipal elections. Even then, the fiscal lock was neither removed nor loosened. On the contrary: throughout the government’s four years, fiscal restraint remained central to its political narrative. The administration proudly proclaimed that it had “put the state’s accounts in order,” without grasping either how misleading that phrase was—given the payment of 1 trillion reais in interest—or how badly the message was hurting it politically. Lula finally woke up in September 2026. The increase in Bolsa Família benefits, after four years of being frozen; the announcement that anti-obesity drugs would be offered through Brazil’s public health system; and the ban on online betting showed that the state has the power to act decisively on behalf of the majority when those in government are willing to confront obstacles. The huge marches that closed the campaign in Fortaleza, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo on the eve of October 4 showed how such initiatives can mobilize activists and the broader public. But it was too late—and too little to change the outcome of the first round. History has not ended The possibility of a turnaround in the three weeks leading up to November 25 cannot be ruled out. It will not be simple or easy. Lula must not only make up a deficit of 2.2 million votes; he must also offset the movement of voters who backed other right-wing candidates in the first round, most of whom are likely to move toward Flávio Bolsonaro. Pulling that off will require a broad, grassroots effort to win over voters, potentially reinforced by new initiatives from Lula. The coming hours and days will be decisive. If Bolsonaro’s movement also wins the presidency, the result will create a high-risk situation for Brazilian sovereignty and democracy. The enormous challenges posed by such an outcome would require the left to reexamine, in depth and with a genuine willingness to engage in self-criticism, its political projects—or its lack of them—and its practices. But would that mean we are condemned to the long winter of far-right hegemony that some analyses are beginning to forecast? It is far too early to say, suggests a recent text by Álvaro García Linera, the thinker who served as vice president of Bolivia under Evo Morales. His central hypothesis is that this political current will prove short-lived. At a moment when the entire world is once again talking about sovereignty and protecting national economies, the far right offers a stale, recolonizing neoliberalism. Its submission to the United States is as blatant and pathetic as Flávio and Eduardo Bolsonaro’s overtures to Donald Trump. Its project amounts to something like every man for himself: greater inequality, capitalism without limits, devastation, and supremacism. Will it work? In the United States, just two years into his second term, Trump himself is reaching record levels of unpopularity and may be on the verge of losing Republican control of both the House and Senate in November. Every new beginning is difficult. Whatever the outcome of the second round, the defeats of October 4 show how profoundly the Brazilian left will have to rethink and rebuild. But just as it would be foolish to underestimate the seriousness of its mistakes, it would be equally foolish to conclude that rebuilding a political project is no longer possible. History has not ended. The times are moving faster than ever. Originally published in Portuguese by Outras Palavras. English translation by Eric Blanc; I’ve added the subtitles. More We can’t stop the far right at home or abroad without a revitalized labor movement, which is yet another reason why you should become a sustaining supporter of the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) — one of US labor’s pivotal bright spots. Relatedly, Jacobin published a short piece of mine reflecting on a decade of Bernie Sanders inspiring a whole new generation of young worker organizers.

Oct 6 • 10:08 AM EDT • Politics • laborpolitics.com

Every ‘Scream’ opening scene, ranked

Do you like scary movie opening scenes? No franchise does killer starts like ‘Scream,’ and we’re ranking all of the star-studded sequences.

Oct 6 • 10:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com

Amazon Prime Big Deal Days 2026 sale live, best Nintendo deals

Here's a roundup of best Nintendo deals, including games for Switch 2 and Switch, for the Amazon Prime Big Deal Days 2026 sale.

Oct 6 • 9:35 AM EDT • Technology • nintendoeverything.com

How many innings will Chris Sale throw in Game 3?

What does Full Strength Chris Sale’s usage look like on Tuesday evening?

Oct 6 • 9:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Lamar Jackson Injury Update: Ravens QB Leaves Game In Boot

Lamar Jackson suffered an ankle injury in Week 4, and the two-time NFL MVP left the game in a walking boot. This is obviously worrisome news for Ravens fans across the globe, but it does not appear to be a serious issue. Originally entering the league as a first-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, …

Oct 6 • 7:33 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

The Daily Mauling: 10/6/26

Kansas Jayhawks News The LJW has a writeup on what the return of Council means for the men’s basketball team. And it’s not paywalled! The KC Star took a close look at Darryn Peterson’s first NBA experience in this weekend’s preseason game. Should I consider DP content to be KU content? He doesn’t exactly carry […]

Oct 6 • 7:03 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Exclusive: At Starbucks, the future is smaller

Starbucks is on a mission to recapture its roots as a place to sit down for a cup of coffee. But it doesn’t think it needs a big footprint to deliver on that promise.

Oct 6 • 7:00 AM EDT • Business • cnn.com

3 science-backed ways to help your brain clear out waste

If the brain’s plumbing doesn’t work properly, research shows, cellular garbage accumulates, and a cleaner brain may be a healthier one.

Oct 6 • 5:00 AM EDT • Science • washingtonpost.com

Democrats are taking big chunks of GOP voters in key Senate races, polls show

President Donald Trump has never had worse poll numbers with his base than he does ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Oct 6 • 4:00 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com

The Canada Super60 turned cricket into a joke. It does the sport no favours

Absurdly short boundaries, a six every other ball - what we saw in Vancouver was just not cricket

Oct 6 • 12:15 AM EDT • Sports • nytimes.com

Political orientation and institutional trust emerge as key factors in local wind energy support

Why does the expansion of wind energy sometimes meet with local resistance, even though renewable energy generally enjoys broad support? RIFS researcher Jörg Radtke used a representative survey of 6,284 ...

Oct 5 • 8:20 PM EDT • Politics • phys.org

GTA 6 Could Finally Fix Gaming's Huge Drug Problem

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should

Oct 5 • 8:00 PM EDT • Technology • polygon.com

Keldon Johnson Makes Ruling on Spurs' Starting Lineup Situation

The San Antonio Spurs have more than enough options for the starting lineup, which means some players will feel snubbed. Keldon Johnson explained why he doesn't care what his teammates think.

Oct 5 • 6:15 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Study: Does earlier menopause onset mean faster cognitive decline?

A new study found that women who experience earlier onset menopause had earlier cognitive decline and were diagnosed with Alzheimer's sooner.

Oct 5 • 5:50 PM EDT • Health • healthjournalism.org

Lions Get Potentially Huge Brian Branch News

Lions coach Dan Campbell is hopeful Brian Branch will return to practice this week, but that doesn't guarantee he'll play against Arizona.

Oct 5 • 5:23 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Raiders Coach Doesn’t Regret Taking Points Off Board

The Las Vegas Raiders lost by three points to the Chiefs, but Klint Kubiak doesn't regret taking three off the board.

Oct 5 • 3:54 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

James Gunn dispels Wonder Woman casting rumors while roasting Frank Grillo

James Gunn addressed the Adria Arjona-Wonder Woman casting rumors by roasting DC star Frank Grillo. ‘You don’t believe he doesn’t know anything? Exhibit A.’

Oct 5 • 3:24 PM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com

How a controversial camera system is monitoring mental health patients

The Lampard Inquiry started back in September 2024 and I remember going to the first hearing in Chelmsford. Subscribe The bereaved families made placards of their loved ones, they stood outside in silence and then laid flowers to mark the moment. Now, two years on, in a process meant to last another two years, there’s been a development. Last week, we were told the chair, Baroness Lampard, pictured below, could be looking at making interim recommendations. Throughout the process, she has remarked that although this inquiry is looking at almost 2,000 people who were under the care of Essex mental health services from 2000-2023 when they died, the findings could have national implications for other trusts. ‘Records 24 hours a day in patient’s bedroom’ So why has this happened? One system that the inquiry is going to take a closer look at is a controversial monitoring system called Oxevision. It monitors some vital signs of patients remotely by using a camera placed in a room. It’s used by 40% of NHS mental health trusts. But campaigners, particularly the group Stop Oxevision, have asked for this technology to be removed from mental health wards as soon as possible. I spoke to a member, Hat Porter, today and they described to me what they thought this technology did and explained their concerns: “It records 24 hours a day and it’s located in a patient’s bedroom, which is obviously somewhere you’d usually expect to be a private place. “Our concerns are that the use of the technology has been has been kind of implemented as a substitute for proper in-person support, that it’s kind of over relied on and that there’s a lot of misunderstandings and that the presence of a camera, which has often been used without people’s consent, sometimes without even their knowledge, that that has a really big impact on privacy, dignity and human rights.” ‘Not sufficient’ I put it to them that the company behind Oxevision would dispute their claims about consent and in videos I’ve seen online from NHS trusts, they make it clear that the technology is complementary to trained staff and not a replacement. [ ](https://channel4news.substack.com/p/the-nottingham-inquiry-what-lessons) [ How the Nottingham inquiry shines a spotlight on other key mental health care failings ](https://channel4news.substack.com/p/the-nottingham-inquiry-what-lessons) Victoria Macdonald · Feb 12 [ Read full story ](https://channel4news.substack.com/p/the-nottingham-inquiry-what-lessons) A team of lawyers has been working on the inquiry and with bereaved family members who have concerns about this technology. I spoke to solicitor Priya Singh, from Hodge Jones & Allen, who made the point that questions usually asked by nurses would be missing from using devices like this. “It’s not sufficient to say, oh, the patient is moving around. Somebody must go in and say, are you okay? Are you distressed? Do you want help? Is there anything I can do? Share Channel 4 News “How are you spending your time? So I think a lot of our families cannot see the function of it when ultimately the patient should only really be observed when they’ve been prescribed to be observed, they can be observed more, but that more should really be happening face to face.” The Chair will hear evidence over the next two weeks and then a decision made after that, which could have national impact if she does decide this technology should be investigated or even removed. The Department of Health and Social Care said: “The Government is committed to ensuring that lessons are learned from the Lampard Inquiry to improve patient safety. “We are confident that the Inquiry will play an important role in identifying wider learnings for the health system following the tragic events in Essex and will contribute to improvements in patient safety.” We approached LIO Health, which runs Oxevision, for comment. Subscribe Share Channel 4 News Leave a comment

Oct 5 • 2:03 PM EDT • Health • channel4news.substack.com

Windows 11 26H2 isn’t exciting, but it does fix one real problem

Windows 11 26H2 doesn't bring much new, but it cuts RAM usage by up to 2GB on some PCs and makes older PCs run smoother.

Oct 5 • 12:43 PM EDT • Technology • pcworld.com

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden cancels health coverage for striking employees

Striking employees of the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden are being removed from the nonprofit's healthcare plan, according to a letter from the garden. Lewis Ginter wrote to CBS 6: "The law does not require employers to continue paying wages or unaccrued benefits to striking workers who are not actively

Oct 5 • 12:35 PM EDT • Health • henricocitizen.com

The upcoming D&D interpretation of World of Warcraft sounds great, but don't expect it to work like the MMO does

World of Warcraft is being given the Dungeons & Dragons treatment in a massive new book. But D&D: WoW works quite differently to the MMO.

Oct 5 • 12:25 PM EDT • Technology • eurogamer.net

What does Spain's snap election mean for the EU?

Spain's snap election on 29 November could cost progressive European forces their last government in a large member state, tilting EU power towards the right and pushing socialists into opposition mode.

Oct 5 • 10:05 AM EDT • Politics • euronews.com

Dhar Mann says YouTubers aren't his rivals. Hollywood is.

BURBANK, CALIFORNIA − Dhar Mann doesn't consider other digital content creators his competition.

Oct 5 • 9:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • centraloregondaily.com

Apple Releases MagSafe 3 Charging Cable Firmware Update

For the first time since February 2023, Apple has released a firmware update for the MagSafe 3 charging cable for the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. Specifically, Apple last week released firmware version 3.2.0 for the USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable. The previous firmware version for the cable was 3.1.12. It is unclear what is included in the latest firmware, as Apple does not publish release notes for this.

Oct 5 • 8:59 AM EDT • Technology • macrumors.com

Scientists reveal what seven days of fasting does to the human body

Scientists found that prolonged fasting triggers major changes throughout the body, but many of the most interesting effects only appeared after about three days without food. The results suggest fasting may influence health in ways that go beyond weight loss and could eventually inspire treatments that mimic its effects.

Oct 5 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com

Mac Users Reclaim Storage With New Apple Intelligence Removal Tool

A new open-source tool is making waves in the Mac community by helping users reclaim valuable storage space taken up by Apple's AI models. Called "RemoveMacAI," the tool disables Apple Intelligence on macOS 27, removes its downloaded models, and prevents them from being downloaded again. In macOS 27, Apple removed the toggle to disable Apple Intelligence wholesale, and simply disabling individual features doesn't remove the models from your Mac's drive.

Oct 5 • 7:12 AM EDT • Technology • macrumors.com

Yale School of Medicine On the Science of Childhood Anxiety, Say, Anxiety Disorders Are the Most Common Mental Health Challenges In Youth

Credit: Matt Bradbury October 5, 2026 - By Isabella Backman - Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health challenges in youth. Left untreated, they can disrupt the lives of both children and their families. The good news is that with intervention, most children will overcome these conditions. Across Yale School of Medicine, scientists are working to understand anxiety at every level, from common anxious behaviors to molecular biomarkers in the brain. They are using their findings to develop and disseminate new evidence-based treatments for childhood anxiety. Today, the go-to treatment for childhood anxiety disorders is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This is a form of psychotherapy that teaches children skills for confronting anxious thoughts and helps them practice managing situations that cause anxiety. While it is the gold-standard treatment backed by considerable scientific evidence, up to 50% of children will not see sufficient benefit from CBT alone. Wendy Silverman, PhD, Alfred A. Messer Professor in the Child Study Center, co-directs the Anxiety and Mood Disorders Program alongside Eli Lebowitz, PhD, associate professor in the Child Study Center. One of their main interests is learning how to improve outcomes beyond CBT. “We’re developing cutting-edge, research-based knowledge that can reduce the suffering that anxiety causes children and their families,” says Silverman. Changing parent behavior YSM experts are investigating how to improve CBT outcomes for children by involving the parents. Silverman’s research has uncovered two main components of parent intervention that improve childhood anxiety: not enabling children to completely avoid the things that make them anxious and taking steps to enhance their autonomy. Parents may unintentionally reinforce their child’s anxiety by allowing them to avoid what makes them anxious. They also may unintentionally limit the children’s sense of autonomy by being overly intrusive. “One of the things that we take pride in is that we’ve focused on trying to understand what parents need to do, and to test our ideas and see if changing the parents’ behaviors is enhancing the effects of CBT,” Silverman says. “Our findings thus far suggest that they do." As much as CBT can be helpful, it can also be challenging to get one’s child to do the necessary steps for CBT to work. This is one important reason why Lebowitz created a novel intervention program for parents named Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE). Existing intervention programs often teach parents to act as therapists for their child, such as training them on how to practice breathing exercises. “It makes sense, but this doesn’t work very well in practice,” says Lebowitz. “And part of the reason, I think, is that it’s not easy to get your kid to do things, especially if they’re not excited about doing it.” SPACE is unique because it focuses entirely on parent involvement and changing parental behavior—children are not involved in the sessions. For example, parents learn how to use supportive messages that convey confidence that their child can tolerate and manage distress. “It might sound like a parent saying to a child, ‘I get that this is really hard for you, but I know that you can handle it,’” Lebowitz says. The program also works with parents to identify the ways in which they are accommodating anxious behaviors. “We’ll pick one thing that parents are doing that is an accommodation and help them make a detailed plan for how they’re going to change that,” Lebowitz explains. Treating Anxiety in Children and Adolescents Much of the existing research on SPACE has focused on parents of children under age 14. Ongoing studies are now exploring its use with parents of older teens. “Both anxiety and accommodation can interfere with normative developmental shifts during the teen years, including increased autonomy and individuation from parents,” says Rebecca Etkin, PhD, associate research scientist in the Child Study Center. “In this sense, SPACE may be particularly well-suited for anxious teens and their parents. We want to see whether it is effective during this distinct developmental window.” Unfortunately, many families in need of CBT face barriers, including limited availability of services and geographic constraints. One way to improve access is digital interventions. Silverman and her team are developing an evidence-based digitized intervention program for parents that they can access directly from their computer or smart phone. “The work we’re doing will be one of the very few parent interventions that is digitized and importantly tested for effectiveness,” she says. Creating interventions for anxiety-related challenges Silverman and Lebowitz recently received a generous gift to develop and test other interventions that help parents reduce other child anxiety-related behavioral and emotional difficulties, such as restrictive eating and unexplained somatic symptoms. One of these projects in particular focuses on understanding the risks of social media and its potential benefits, including offering a sense of connection. “A lot of research has focused on the idea that social media is harmful and the less of it the better,” says Lebowitz. “But we actually see is that this is not quite right—there are negatives, but there are also positives. So, we’re trying to get a little bit more nuanced of a picture.” The team is working with teens with social anxiety and their parents over an extended period to better understand their social media habits and how their anxiety levels affect engagement with different platforms. The teens will answer questions sent to an app on their phones about mood and social media usage in an effort to capture emotional responses as they unfold. “We hope to develop interventions that can help make the best of social media while protecting against the more problematic effects,” Lebowitz says. The brain’s role in anxiety Researchers are also testing therapies to address anxiety at the neurological and molecular levels. In collaboration with Dylan Gee, PhD, professor of psychology in Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Hilary Blumberg, MD, John and Hope Furth Professor of Psychiatric Neuroscience at Yale School of Medicine, Lebowitz and Silverman are using brain imaging to identify changes in a child’s brain before and after parents enroll in SPACE. In one study, children viewed anxiety-inducing images while undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); the researchers conducted scans with and without the children’s parents nearby. Before SPACE, children’s brains were better able to activate the regulatory circuitry needed to turn off an anxious response when their parents were nearby. But after SPACE, children could activate this circuitry even without the parent around. “As parents work on gradually reducing some of their accommodations, you can see a child get better at regulating their own fear system in the brain,” Lebowitz says. “It’s remarkable.” Research into the molecular underpinnings of anxiety can also inform new childhood anxiety treatments. In a recent study, Lebowitz, Silverman, and Flora Vaccarino, MD, Harris Professor in the Child Study Center, discovered that a protein known as fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) could be protective from the toxic effects of stress. FGF2 levels in children and their parents were linked to the children’s risk of developing anxiety and depression, the study showed. The findings could help explain why some children who are exposed to early life trauma such as poverty or abuse are more prone to developing mental health disorders. And FGF2 could be a target for treatment. “This is very novel because it starts to give a clue to what is the molecular chain that connects those lived experiences to the actual psychological outcomes,” Lebowitz says. New ways to study and treat childhood anxiety Michael Crowley, PhD, associate professor in the Child Study Center, collaborates with Silverman and Lebowitz to study the role that attention plays in development and maintenance of childhood anxiety. There is a large body of research that shows that anxious children, like anxious adults, are prone to focus on threatening stimuli such as angry faces compared with neutral faces. This has led to innovative interventions that involve attention retraining. The idea is that if experts train children to look away from threatening stimuli, it may reduce their anxiety—especially children with social anxiety who are most prone to attend to threats. The researchers have just completed a clinical trial for attention retraining with 10- to 14-year-olds with social anxiety disorders and are currently analyzing the findings. Besides this innovative attention retraining research, as Crowly notes, “I like to design tasks that are engaging to kids,” Crowley says. “My goal is to assess something without the kids knowing what we are assessing.” With this goal in mind, Crowley has created a virtual game, named Boom, to study threat processing in children with anxiety disorders. The game is similar to that of hot potato—the child and three digital players take turns virtually passing a ball to each other’s gloves. At some point, the ball turns into a bomb, and as the bomb lands in each player’s glove, the outline of the glove turns yellow. The goal is to avoid having the bomb go off in your glove. What isn’t obvious is that the game is designed to measure different types of threatening stimuli, both ambiguous and direct. In the game, the direct threat occurs as the bomb is traveling towards your glove. The ambiguous threat is the yellow outlined glove as it is unknown where the bomb will travel next. While children play the game, Crowley’s team measures their brain activity using electroencephalography (EEG). The researchers have discovered that in kids with anxiety, the brain reacts more strongly to ambiguous threats than it does in their peers, but less strongly to direct threats. They believe that the initial abnormally large brain response to not knowing where the bomb is going impairs the brain's ability to properly respond when the threat is actually traveling the child’s way. “The brains of children with anxiety are unable to differentiate between threats you need to do something about and those that are not your problem.” Michael Crowley, PhD, develops innovative games for studying anxiety in children and adolescents.Credit: Matt Bradbury Based on these insights, Crowley hopes to study whether interventions like attention training could restore appropriate threat processing. Crowley’s team is also working on a test called the Balloon Risk Avoidance Task, which evaluates risk-taking and avoidance behaviors. It features a digital balloon that is full of air and about to burst. Kids have six seconds to let air out of the balloon. The more air they let out, the less risk they face that the balloon will pop. But at the same time, the balloon becomes less valuable as it deflates. “The more air you keep in the balloon, the more points you get,” Crowley explains. So far, the researchers have found that when the balloons pop unexpectedly, teens with social anxiety show distinct brain responses. Studying these responses can help psychologists understand the underlying pathways driving the various manifestations of anxiety. The genetics of anxiety When Thomas Fernandez, MD, associate professor in the Child Study Center and of psychiatry, was still in training, there was a lot of excitement about understanding the genetics associated with autism spectrum disorder. Since then, scientists have identified around 250 genes associated with autism. The genetic contribution to anxiety disorders, on the other hand, has historically received less attention. Anxiety is less heritable than autism, but the genetic contribution for anxiety disorders that emerge in childhood may be higher than for anxiety disorders overall. While scientists estimate the heritability of anxiety disorders in general to be around 30% to 50%, some studies suggest higher heritability for certain childhood-onset anxiety presentations. “I saw firsthand how researchers in the field went about finding vulnerability genes for autism,” Fernandez says. “So, we’re using a very similar playbook for childhood anxiety.” “I saw firsthand how researchers in the field went about finding vulnerability genes for autism. So, we’re using a very similar playbook for childhood anxiety.” Thomas Fernandez, MD Associate Professor In the Child Study Center and in Psychiatry Now, Fernandez and Emily Olfson, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Child Study Center, are studying children and their parents to identify genetic changes that are present in the child but not the parents, known as “de novo mutations.” “All of us have some de novo mutations—maybe about 50 to 100 sprinkled throughout the genome,” Olfson says. “But when they occur within the coding regions of genes, they can be really disruptive.” Previous research shows that people with autism have higher rates of damaging de novo mutations than the general population. In 2022, Olfson, Lebowitz, Silverman, and Fernandez published a study on 68 children and their families that found that children with anxiety had similarly high levels of these mutations. Studying de novo mutations can help point the researchers to where they should be looking for genes associated with anxiety. “The end game is using the genes to steer us toward the right part of biology that we can then target to come up with better treatments,” Fernandez says. Building on those findings, the team is now studying more families to better understand how these de novo mutations, along with other genetic and environmental factors, shape pediatric anxiety disorders. They recently received a National Institutes of Health grant to enroll 750 new families over the next five years. Olfson is the principal investigator, with co-investigators Lebowitz, Fernandez, Silverman, and Shuangge Steven Ma, PhD, department chair and professor of biostatistics at Yale School of Public Health. Neurodevelopment, Risk Genes, and Mental Health Conditions - The Olfson Lab Joel Gelernter, MD, Foundations Fund Professor of Psychiatry, is interested in how different anxiety disorders differ genomically. “We are studying social phobia, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder, working to understand why people differ in their risk to these specific anxiety disorders and evaluating various risk factors,” he says. Gelernter was recently involved in one of the largest studies to date of the genomics underlying anxiety disorder. The study included around 122,000 people with anxiety disorders and around 730,000 without. It found that some genetic differences associated with anxiety were linked to signaling that helps reduce overactivity in the nervous system. Many anxiety medications available today work by targeting this process. “It’s nice when the biology that you get out of a large genome-wide study ratifies things that we already know because that can help increase confidence in further findings from the study,” Gelernter says. Uncovering the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders John Krystal, MD, Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Professor of Translational Research and chair of the Department of Psychiatry, is interested in the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), of which anxiety is a major symptom. In the late 1980s, Krystal’s team discovered that the drug yohimbine activated symptoms in patients with PTSD. “This was the first time we could link a specific biological mechanism to the symptoms of PTSD,” Krystal says. At the time, he adds, this finding was highly controversial. “A lot of people felt that PTSD was a purely psychological syndrome that didn’t have an underlying biology.” Since then, Krystal has dived deep into understanding the neurobiology of PTSD to learn how to better treat it. His team is evaluating the use of ketamine and psychedelics. These would be among the first treatments to be developed specifically for PTSD. They may also be applicable for other disorders including anxiety disorders, Krystal adds. An important gap in PTSD treatment is the absence of biological tests that inform how to best help patients manage their PTSD symptoms. A doctor doesn’t diagnose cancer based on how they feel. Rather, they use tests of the biology of the cancer to determine the best course of treatment. “And we can’t do that in any psychiatric disorder other than Alzheimer’s disease,” Krystal says. “But now we are building a foundation for this approach to the treatment of anxiety disorders for the first time.” Source: Yale School of Medicine

Oct 5 • 6:44 AM EDT • Science • goldrushcam.com

Nintendo has renewed some classic game trademarks

Nintendo has recently refreshed some trademarks for some of its older titles as it naturally does from time to time. It doesn’t mean that new entries are currently in the works, though that would be…

Oct 5 • 6:42 AM EDT • Technology • mynintendonews.com

2026 BFI London Film Festival Preview: Political Messages, Animation

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Oct 5 • 4:00 AM EDT • Politics • hollywoodreporter.com

C.J. Stroud Does Not Hold Back After Cowboys Beat Texans

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Oct 4 • 11:32 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Giants vs. Commanders odds: Opening lines for Week 5 matchup

Does Vegas have faith in the 3-1 NY Giants on the road against the 1-3 Commanders?

Oct 4 • 11:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Raiders-Chiefs: 18 things we learned

Las Vegas doesn’t embarrass itself in 30-27 home loss to the Kansas City Chiefs

Oct 4 • 9:13 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

When is it worth getting a sound card for your PC?

Does a sound card really improve audio quality on a PC? For most uses, the improvement won't be noticeable. But those who require high-precision audio need it.

Oct 4 • 7:00 PM EDT • Technology • engadget.com

Sam Altman says AI's benefits outweigh 'some bad things happening'

Sam Altman said he does not accept "the really catastrophic risks" of AI, believing that people will do "more good stuff than bad stuff."

Oct 4 • 5:01 PM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com

VisionQuest and 6 other new fantasy & science fiction shows to watch in October 2026

It's the season of ghosts, ghouls, and pumpkin spice...yet while horror takes center stage in media, that doesn't mean there isn't still plenty of exciting new

Oct 4 • 3:27 PM EDT • Science • winteriscoming.net

Rebuked by Bond Market, Bessent Says ‘House’ Does Not Always Win

The Treasury secretary said in an interview with Axios that he cannot control the Treasury market but argued that U.S. bond yields would come back down over time.

Oct 4 • 2:33 PM EDT • Business • nytimes.com

Ripple Plans a Credit Business Backed With XRP. Does Lending Finally Give the Token a Use That Moves the Price?

Ripple's new credit service locks XRP as collateral for payment loans, a model that works very differently from the pass-through payments that have left many holders waiting for a price catalyst. Whether this finally creates sustained demand hinges on details Ripple has yet to reveal.

Oct 4 • 11:30 AM EDT • Business • finance.yahoo.com

COMMENTARY: Should MacIntyre or Brandon be QB1 this week?

Tennessee football has a legitimate quarterback controversy. Hope it doesn't ruin Faizon Brandon.

Oct 4 • 11:09 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Campbell County health and food inspections (9/25/26–10/1/26)

GILLETTE, Wyo. — The Consumer Health Services Division of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture conducts inspections of retail food establishments throughout Wyoming (where there is not a local health department that does inspections) to help ensure safety of Wyoming residents. Campbell County establishments are inspected at least once a year by the WDA. All of […]

Oct 4 • 11:00 AM EDT • Health • county17.com

Yankees need Cam Schlittler to steal Game 2 in Tampa

Cam Schlittler does not need a motivational speech about Tropicana Field. The last time the Yankees sent him there, on […]

Oct 4 • 10:30 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Jane Doe’s Attorney: ‘I believe there were more’ than 7 men

Oct 4 • 10:20 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com

Fighting AI Slop in Science Papers

AI does everything at scale, from DOS-attack-level web scraping to producing, or enabling, such vast volumes of scientific research submissions that the result is becoming both a logistical crisis and a crisis of quality...

Oct 4 • 8:24 AM EDT • Science • unite.ai

How Democrats hope to reverse Trump’s changes to the presidency

As the midterms approach, some of the president’s foes are working to ensure his aggressive approach to executive power doesn’t outlast him.

Oct 4 • 6:00 AM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com

Malen completes recovery ahead of Como clash

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Oct 4 • 4:35 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

How AI could usher in a 'new scientific golden age' (if it doesn't kill us all first)

AI has remarkable potential to exponentially advance scientific discovery, say scientists. But getting out the word of its scientific benefits of can be challenging when forced to compete with headlines about its significant if not existential threat to humanity.

Oct 4 • 4:00 AM EDT • Science • cbc.ca

Scott Bessent compares AI CEOs seeking regulation to Hannibal Lecter

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Silicon Valley doesn't need the government to intervene.

Oct 3 • 4:35 PM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com

PlatinumGames talks Nintendo Switch 2, offers brief comment on Bayonetta's future

PlatinumGames has offered a few words about Nintendo Switch 2 as well as the future of Bayonetta. PlatinumGames CEO Atsushi Inaba was recently taking part in a joint discussion with Shift Up’s Kim Hyung Tae. For those who missed the news, the companies recently announced a collaboration which will bring special Bayonetta costumes to Stellar Blade in time for the...

Oct 3 • 4:30 PM EDT • Technology • nintendoeverything.com

Women are turning to testosterone, but what does the science actually say?

A recent BBC report described women posing as men to obtain testosterone gel, hoping to improve their menopause symptoms because female testosterone products are not easily available to them. But why ...

Oct 3 • 3:20 PM EDT • Science • medicalxpress.com

13 unbelievable child car seats from the past century

Some were even on the outside of cars, because what baby doesn't want a view?

Oct 3 • 3:03 PM EDT • Science • popsci.com

The Witcher 3 Remastered Nintendo Switch 2 tech analysis, including frame rate and resolution

Get details about frame rate, resolution, and more for The Witcher 3 Remastered on Nintendo Switch 2 with this new technical analysis.

Oct 3 • 2:53 PM EDT • Technology • nintendoeverything.com

Here's why I upgraded from the Apple Watch Series 10 to Series 12

I’m someone who doesn’t often upgrade my Apple Watch right when a new one comes out. The Apple Watch Series...

Oct 3 • 2:48 PM EDT • Technology • 9to5mac.com

Health department to host free event for families

DOBSON — Being healthy doesn’t need to be boring, which is the aim behind an event planned next Thursday in Dobson.

Oct 3 • 2:37 PM EDT • Health • mtairynews.com

Does Texas football play today? No. 1 Longhorns' remaining schedule

After going 4-0 to begin the season, top-ranked Texas football now awaits a matchup with bitter rival Oklahoma.

Oct 3 • 12:03 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com